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DeSantis: ‘Bitcoin Represents a Threat to the Current Regime’
Florida’s governor and the Republican Party’s latest leadership candidate talked crypto and central bank digital currencies in a Twitter space with Elon Musk.
Updated May 25, 2023, 3:22 p.m. Published May 25, 2023, 4:14 a.m.
The latest contender for the leadership of the Republican Party said he is an advocate for crypto.
“The current regime, clearly, has it out for Bitcoin,” Ron DeSantis said during a Twitter space with Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks in which he officially announced his bid for U.S. president. “And if it continues for another four years, they’ll probably end up killing it.”
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DeSantis said he views crypto as a question of civil liberties. As Florida’s governor, he signed legislation prohibiting the use of central bank digital currencies within the state (although some lawyers question if the law does what it says).
“I just do not have the itch to have to control everything that people may be doing in this space,” he said. “Bitcoin represents a threat to them, they’re trying to regulate it out of existence.”
During the interview, DeSantis insisted on Congressional authorization for a CBDC, vowing to avoid it during his potential presidency, due to concerns over its potential misuse to influence politically unfavorable purchases.
Some have argued, however, that CBDCs enshrine constitutional protections over commerce, giving these unfavorable purchasers or merchants – such as someone buying ammunition or a pornographer selling their creations – a defense against un-banking that can’t be used when dealing with a private company.
Regardless, CBDCs might be the newest wedge issue in U.S. politics.
In a recent interview with CoinDesk, Samuel Armes, president of the Florida Blockchain Business Association, which helped draft DeSantis’ anti-CBDC bill, said that DeSantis’ office has gotten more phone calls about CBDCs than any of the usual issues.
A recent poll from Quinnipiac University shows that DeSantis still trails former president Donald Trump among Republican and Republican-leaning voters, with 56% supporting Trump followed by 25% for DeSantis.
DeSantis isn't the first Republican candidate to mention bitcoin. Former pharma entrepreneur and longshot contender Vivek Ramaswamy said onstage at Bitcoin 2023 in Miami that the next election should be a "referendum of fiat currency" and has also come out against CBDCs with a "hell no."
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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CFTC Launches Digital Assets Pilot Allowing Bitcoin, Ether and USDC as Collateral
Acting Chair Caroline Pham has unveiled a first-of-its-kind U.S. program to permit tokenized collateral in derivatives markets, citing "clear guardrails" for firms.
What to know:
- The CFTC has launched a pilot program allowing BTC, ETH and USDC to be used as collateral in U.S. derivatives markets.
- The program is aimed at approved futures commission merchants and includes strict custody, reporting and oversight requirements.
- The agency also issued updated guidance for tokenized assets and withdrew outdated restrictions following the GENIUS Act.
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